Fire them all

President Ronald Reagan fired more than 11000 air-traffic controllers in 1981 for staging an illegal strike. President Bill Clinton’s first act as president was to fire all the U.S attorneys across the U.S. – an unprecedented act by an American president.

What is the difference between these two acts? In the first instance President Reagan acted within the law by removing from office those who sought to violate the law. In the second instance President Clinton acted solely in his own self interest to subvert justice.

These two acts highlight the differences in properly herding the apparatchiks along the path of carrying out their legal responsibilities and removing them purely at ones discretion in an attempt to have the apparatchiks serve a personal agenda. While there are occasions where the apparatchiks stage palace revolutions in direct conflict with their legal responsibilities there are also occasions where the executive in charge attempts to pervert the bureaucracy away from these same responsibilities.

How do we promote the enforcement of the law and prevent the abuse of power for individual gain?